Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams untroubled at Wimbledon

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova were comfortable winners on day three at Wimbledon, both progressing to the third round with straight sets victories.

While the top-seeded American needed less than an hour to sweep aside the big-serving Hungarian Timea Babos 6-4 6-1, Sharapova eased past Richel Hogenkamp in 64 minutes for the loss of just four games.

Babos, world No 93, offered some resistance in the first set when the only break of serve came in the opening game.

The second set was more straightforward for Williams who sent down 12 aces in all during the match on Centre Court.

The 33-year-old will now play Britain’s only remaining player in the women’s singles, Heather Watson.

Williams said: "I'm definitely playing well. I had to pick up my game today. She has such a huge serve."

Meanwhile Sharapova, the No 4 seed, won 6-3 6-1 against the world No 123 from the Netherlands who had qualified for the tournament for the first time.

Sharapova, champion in 2004, mixed her usual high number of winners with a fair sprinkling of unforced errors.

The 28-year-old Russian broke serve five times in all while using her own heavy weapons to repel her little-known opponent.

Despite making eight double faults, Sharapova won 87 per-cent of her first serve points and now faces the No 29 seed from Romania, Irina Begu, in the last 32.

But there was a major shock on Court 3 where the No 7 seed Ana Ivanovic was beaten in straight sets by American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

The 30-year-old, world No 158, from Arizona won 6-3 6-4, clinching a famous victory on her fourth match point.

Former world No 1, Ivanovic, struggled on her second serve and could only convert one of eight break point opportunities.

Last week’s surprise winner at Eastbourne, Belinda Bencic, continued her good form with a topsy-turvy win over Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany 7-5 4-6 6-0.

After two close sets, the No 30-seeded Swiss romped away with the decider in just 24 minutes.

The 18-year-old Bencic conceded just eight points in the final set and will now face giant-killer Mattek-Sands in round three.

Also safely through to the last 32 is two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka whose return to form following injury continues to gather pace.

The No 23 seed from Belarus beat Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-3 6-3.

At one stage Flipkens, a surprise semi-finalist two years ago, lost eight out of nine games to Azarenka who was particularly dominant on first serve.

Beaten finalist in Paris, Lucie Safarova, eased past Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan 6-2 6-3 without dropping her serve once.

The Czech player takes on the dangerous American Sloane Stephens, probably on Friday.

And late in the day five-time champion Venus Williams was forced to battle hard for her victory over Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

The No 16 seed won 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in just under two hours on Court No 2.

There was very little between the players with Venus, 35, winning just two more points than her plucky opponent (82-80).

The first set yielded two breaks of serve, while the only break of the second came in game three.

Putintseva, the 20-year-old world No 95, will rue only converting one of eight break points